Moving to Disney Concern – Florida Weather

Before following our dreams and making Disneyworld our backyard we had 4 major concerns. These concerns were very serious. So serious that they kept us from really considering relocating to the Orlando area for years.

You can click on the links above to read more about each one, and read my detailed experience and thoughts below.

I am the type of person that likes to research. I look everything up. I read forums and discussions, questions and answers, and I ask questions too. I really think it helps being education in your decisions.

That being said there’s one thing that I found out when doing my moving to Orlando research. People can be biased.

I joined City Data forums and I spent weeks studying and searching for answers through old posts from others, and new posts that I created. I got so many answers about everything that I asked from people who had lived in the Orlando area, and people who currently lived in the area.

I will go over each concern of my move, along with other topics that were serious such as where do I live? How do I know which areas and neighborhoods are safe?

I was currently living in Asheville, NC, and I had lived there for 20 years. Asheville has very nice weather. We had the four seasons, and they were always pleasant.

I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and I have to tell you that I am not a person that enjoys the heat. Really, I don’t like it at all. I also don’t like the humidity.

The humidity was an even bigger obstacle for me because I have occasional panic attacks, and the humidity makes it worse. When it gets really humid I feel like it’s hard to breathe, and I panic. It took me a couple of years of really working with dealing with the humidity once I moved here, and I am almost always fine with it now.

The thought of moving to Florida, famous for it’s heat and humidity seems silly then right? To me, who really dislikes the heat and the humidity? Yes, but I really wanted to move to Disney World.

Can I deal with it? For years I said no. I said to myself “how can anyone live in that weather?!?”, and I just never seriously considered it.

Along with the hot Disney World weather there was concerns of hurricanes. Remember back in 2004 when Orlando was struck by three hurricanes? Scary!!

I read so many comments on the forums about how it’s not safe to park your car outside of your house because of the constant storms, and hail. I read how dangerous it is to live in Florida because of the hurricanes and tornados. It all made me very scared, and for years I would end my research there.

In the end I decided that I would deal with the heat, the humidity, and the possibility of hurricanes and bad weather. I would deal with the common Spring storms and hope and pray that all would be okay.

I did this because I really wanted to move to Disney, and I just said “Hey, other people live there, why can’t I? I can! I will!”

So … five years later how is it you ask? Were my concerns valid?

• It’s hot and it’s humid! There’s no denying that. It’s very uncomfortable for most of the year. The first year (okay, maybe the first two years), I pretty much stayed indoors, in my air conditioned home (I called it my cave. I hibernated) during the hottest months of the year. I went to Disney in the evenings, when it was still hot and humid, but the sun was gone so it wasn’t as uncomfortable.

I remember how I thought I was going to melt just from walking from my car in the parking lot, to the store. It was hard to deal with the heat those first couple of years.

You definitely can’t live without air conditioning in your home or car. My air runs 24 hours a day, only cutting off for brief periods. Even with the air set on 74 degrees and running constantly it still gets humid in the house, and hot in the peak of the Summer.

The good news? I’m adapting!! Years later (I noticed it last year, after the fourth summer here), I can deal with the heat much better. It doesn’t seem as extreme. It helps that I went hiking in Honduras in April of this year, and experienced extreme humidity. It doesn’t seem so bad here after that. You want hot, go to Central America!!

In 2009, our first Florida summer, we went Blueberry picking. It was very fun, but oh so hot. I mean I was melting, and I was miserable. It was so hot. Guess what? Turns out that it was in April …. which isn’t even that hot! It was just because I was a Florida newbie.

Bottom line? You adjust. It will always be hot, it will always be uncomfortable, but you adapt and deal with it better the longer you’re here. The prize? You get Disney World year ’round, and in the Winter (which is more like Fall), the weather can’t be more perfect!